07-08-2017, 07:23 PM
The great Brooklyn band The National played a “living art” show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City in 2013 called “A Lot of Sorrow” where they played their song “Sorrow” for 6 hours straight. Six f**king hours! That’s 105 times, never once veering from the set list. As the museum noted at the time, “…the artist continues his explorations into the potential of repetitive performance to produce sculptural presence within sound.”
The concept is absolutely ridiculous but I admire the band’s stamina in this mind-numbing pursuit. I was thinking about this performance in the context of the Hip and was wondering what I would have wanted them to play should I ever have had tickets to such a performance. I would not choose my favourite song as I would probably never want to hear it again after the event. I would want a song with a range of dynamics, a song that I have not over-played myself, and a song that I’ve heard very little in a live setting.
That song for me would be Put It Off. I has varying dynamics; the slow, burning intensity to open, the ferocious chorus, the blistering solo in the last third, followed by a soft close. It is the perfect album closer. It’s also the song I would chose for the Hip if they were faced with a 6 hour loop. I’ve only seen the song played once live (December 1996 on the TATH tour) and I personally haven’t overplayed it due to its placement at the end of an album. (I think all 10th, 11th, and 12th songs suffered some degree of neglect in my CD collection back in the day due to time constraints, a short attention span, or someone wanting to change up the music at a party. The highly underrated Put It Off was probably no different.)
If I keep the same parameters of a 6 hour show that would give time for 68 performances of Put It Off. I think I could make it through at least 3-4 hours, but I have serious doubts that I could make it the full 6 hours. Is there any Hip song you could listen to repetitively for 6 hours straight and not go insane?
The concept is absolutely ridiculous but I admire the band’s stamina in this mind-numbing pursuit. I was thinking about this performance in the context of the Hip and was wondering what I would have wanted them to play should I ever have had tickets to such a performance. I would not choose my favourite song as I would probably never want to hear it again after the event. I would want a song with a range of dynamics, a song that I have not over-played myself, and a song that I’ve heard very little in a live setting.
That song for me would be Put It Off. I has varying dynamics; the slow, burning intensity to open, the ferocious chorus, the blistering solo in the last third, followed by a soft close. It is the perfect album closer. It’s also the song I would chose for the Hip if they were faced with a 6 hour loop. I’ve only seen the song played once live (December 1996 on the TATH tour) and I personally haven’t overplayed it due to its placement at the end of an album. (I think all 10th, 11th, and 12th songs suffered some degree of neglect in my CD collection back in the day due to time constraints, a short attention span, or someone wanting to change up the music at a party. The highly underrated Put It Off was probably no different.)
If I keep the same parameters of a 6 hour show that would give time for 68 performances of Put It Off. I think I could make it through at least 3-4 hours, but I have serious doubts that I could make it the full 6 hours. Is there any Hip song you could listen to repetitively for 6 hours straight and not go insane?
